British State Funerals

[poliphilo]

I asked Wikipedia.

The difference between a state funeral and a ceremonial funeral is that a state funeral has to be voted for in parliament. There's no difference in ritual between the two (ceremonial funerals may include a lying in state) except that in a ceremonial funeral the gun carriage is drawn by horses and in a state funeral by sailors. This latter tradition dates from an incident at the funeral of Queen Victoria when the horses bolted and a bunch of naval ratings took their place.

Here's a list of all the non-royal state funerals since time began.

• Sir Philip Sidney (1586)


• Admiral Robert Blake (1657)


• Sir Isaac Newton (1727)


• The Viscount Nelson (1806)


• The Duke of Wellington (1852)


• The Viscount Palmerston (1865)


• Lord Napier of Magdala (1890)


• The Rt Hon William Gladstone (1898)


• The Earl Roberts of Kandahar (1914)


• The Earl Haig (1928)


• The Lord Carson (1935)


• The Rt Hon Sir Winston Churchill (1965)

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

A fascinating list - thanks!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

A motley crew, isn't it?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

It's interesting that Sidney's was the first. (Oh, and you can see it here.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

What an amazing show.

I want one of those hats.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

Half of them gladly forgotten. So may it be with Caesar - sorry, Thatcher.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There are several names on the list which- to a modern mind at least- are fairly contentious.